Last night while watching the Blackhawks win big over Calgary, I was flipping the channel to my TV, and what should I see, but baseball! Needless to say, I stopped flipping, and my eyes became transfixed on the images on the screen. Channel 20 in Chicago was airing the premiere of Buck O’Neil & Black Baseball in Chicago, an encore showing will air November 13th at 7:30 PM, again on channel 20.

The late, great, Buck O’Neil talked about his days in the Negro Leagues and becoming the first African American baseball coach in the major leagues with the Chicago Cubs. O’Neil said, he never really resented not being allowed to play in the big leagues, because the best ballplayers of the day were in the Negro Leagues. Bob Kendrick, the Director of the Negro Leagues Museum in Kansas City, stated how upset he was when Buck didn’t make it into the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown before his death. Seventeen former Negro Leaguers were inducted in the last induction before O’Neil’s death. Buck didn’t feel sorry for himself at not getting in, but rather was thrilled 17 others had made it, according to Kendrick.

The documentary brings the past to life. It talked about the Double Duty Classic, which features the best young high school African American ballplayers competing in this East/West Classic, named after Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffe. It also shows the statue of Buck O’Neil that resides in the HOF, and there’s a lifetime achievement award named after O’Neil. Buck was the first winner of this award. Back in the day, the East/West Classic was the Negro Leagues All Star Game, was played at Comiskey Park in Chicago, would draw 50,000 fans, and featured the best African American ballplayers playing all out.

The show talks about how O’Neil managed Ernie Banks for the Kansas City Monarchs and then coached Banks with the Cubs. Buck also talked Billy Williams out of quitting after experiencing racism in Texas before coming up to the Cubs. Jermaine Dye, of the Chicago White Sox, came up with the Kansas City Royals, commented how fortunate he was to have met Buck O’Neil, while coming up to the big leagues.

There is also mention of the Chicago Baseball Museum, a work in progress, that can be checked out at www.chicagobaseballmuseum.org Also, if you can, checkout Buck O’Neil & Black Baseball in Chicago when its encore performance airs on Thursday the 13th on channel 20.

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Tags: All Star Game, Baseball History, Cubs, General MLB, Hall of Fame, Negro Leagues, White Sox by Teddy Ballgame
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Yes, the AL got lucky last night. 

No, I don’t mean with their 4-3 win… That was well-deserved.  However as Buck and McCarver talked about incessantly up until the end of the game, Francona breathed a sigh of relief when Michael Young drove Justin Morneau home on a sac fly in the bottom of the 15th.  As it was, he had already brought in Scott Kazmir, who was on his “Do Not Pitch List”, for one inning.  He didn’t relish the idea of bringing him for much longer. 

Maybe we haven’t learned anything from the 2002 All-Star game.  That was the year Bud Selig declared the game a tie after both teams ran out of players and relievers.  After Francona’s starter, Cliff Lee went two frames, none of the American League pitchers pitched more than one inning until George Sherrill who came in the 12th.  To be fair, no one thought this game would go 15 innings.  That said, perhaps we should start playing the All-Star game as a game to be won (I don’t buy into the whole idea that now that we’re playing for home field advantage, the game counts… it’s a game and it’s played to be won).

I don’t let NL Manager Clint Hurdle off easy either.  Why did he take out Brandon Webb, who pitched the 14th inning, after just one inning?  As visitor team and with a tie game, surely he knew that even in the best scenario, Lidge would have to pitch at least two innings for an National League win.  I would have left Webb in for just one more inning.

One more thought on the whole matter, if a manager is going to pick a pitcher for a game, even an All-Star Game, make sure he’s a pitcher who he is comfortable putting in the game.  Webb and Kazmir are most deserving of a All-Star nod but if they are taking up a spot on roster, the managers should be able to put them in with a minimum of mini-dramas described to us in full details by Buck/McCarver.  Less is better, guys.

Other comments on the Game:

Despite the long game, I thought it was exciting.  Kudos to the AL for their victory and the NL gave them an excellent fight. 

Fine job by the Cub pitchers.  Zambrano, Dempster and Marmol in four combined innings allowed just one hit and no runs with six strikeouts.

I appreciated the good defensive efforts on the NL’s part in the (I believe) 10th and 11th innings in dire base situations.  Three outs in five plate appearances were made at home plate.  Nice job, Russ Martin! 

I gotta feel for Dan Uggla.  Here’s a guy who’s had an awesome first half and he gets to his first All-Star Game and pretty much stinks up the place.  Oh for 4, 3 K’s and 3 errors (two in one inning).  Then Buckarver is telling me a heartbreaking story about his Dad too.

See you in St Louis, AL!

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Tags: All Star Game by The Baseball Zealot
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Pirate fan and resident umpire Todd V and I recorded show 45 for Baseball Zealot Radio. 

We analyze the two big trades in the NL Central, Harden and the big guy before critiquing the voters’ choices in the All-Star balloting. 

It’s been a while since we’ve done an honest-to-goodness roundtable so the two of us took a look at the MLB division-by-division pinpointing the big surprises of the 2008 season so far. 

Length:  41:26

Date Recorded:  7/14/08

Listen to Episode 45	Listen to the show via iTunes!
Listen to other Baseball Zealot Radio episodes	BZR Podcast Feed

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Tags: All Star Game, Baseball Zealot Radio, Cubs by The Baseball Zealot
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Looks like MLB will be making a buck or two during the All-Star break:

Ticket prices are setting records. The most expensive face-value seat for Tuesday’s contest is $725 – more than twice as pricey as the top ticket in San Francisco last year and nearly triple the 2006 benchmark of $250, when the game was played in Pittsburgh.

And as more and more non-game events are added, so does their revenue increase. 

Even the non-game events are drawing New York prices. The cheapest face-value seat for the State Farm Home Run Derby on July 14 is three figures, which is akin to paying $100 to watch batting practice on steroids. The All-Star Fanfest at the Javits Center is predicted to draw records crowds despite a $30 ticket price for adults and $25 for children.

I miss the old days when the hype wasn’t there.  I guess the argument can be made that all this is “good for baseball” but jeez, when the sports media is busy covering what I considering entertainment (i.e. not sports) for purely monetary reasons, I’m not sure it’s such a good thing. 

Delineating sports and entertainment… I suppose I’m sounding like a purist now.

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One of my favorite All-Star memories as a kid was the last time the Summer Classic was played at Yankee Stadium.  It was 1977 and I was I was 13 years old.

I was a Cubs fan and my neighbor across the street was a Reds fan.  All summer long we argue who was better.  Of course, this was in the midst of the Great Red Machine dynasty and my Cubs would perennially find themselves in the bottom half of the East Division.  I had no love for his Reds but secretly I envied their lineup which included Joe Morgan, Johnny Bench, George Foster, and Pete Rose.

But this was the All-Star game and in this, we could agree:  the National League ruled and the American League was plain bad.  And we were right, at least as far as All-Star Games were concerned.  Back then, the NL was in the middle of a 11-year All-Star winning streak stretching from 1972 to 1982.

I went across the street to my friend’s house to watch the game.  Dodger Don Sutton was facing the Orioles’ Jim Palmer.  The NL had big bats like the aforementioned Reds, LA’s Steve Garvey and Ron Cey, the Bucs’ Dave Parker, and Greg “Bull” Luzinski from the Phils.

The AL was equally stacked with the usual suspects you knew by one name.  “Yaz”, “Reggie”, [Read more →]

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Tags: All Star Game, Baseball History by The Baseball Zealot
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I finally got off my duff an updated the web site of the Illowa APBA League. It’s been a couple months since I touched it. I’m no web designer but I have fun doing it.

Our All-Star Game is coming up in October. Aside from the draft weekend, that one of highlights of the IAL season for me. We vote in the best players and the best of East battle the the best of the West.

I remember when my buddy Brando was in his first year in the league and was attending his first All-Star weekend. In the beginning, he didn’t see the big deal of a APBA All-Star Game. What was the big deal watching two guys playing APBA?, he thought.

As it came nearer to “Play Ball!”, and the rest of the managers were grabbing their dice, he understood. We weren’t simply going to watch two guys play APBA baseball; we were all part of the game. Each one of us got to roll for our own players. With the managers from one division on one side of the table and the managers of the other division on the other, the friendly trash talk began. It was constant fun chaos for the entire game.

A scene from the 2005 IAL All-Star Weekend

Speaking of managing, we determine the manager by the standings of the previous year. Guess who was in first place last year? Yes, yours truly. That makes me the manager of the West Division which pretty much includes the non-Chicago teams in our league.

Aside from on-the-field decisions, the IAL All-Star manager is responsible for choosing the pitchers and substitutes as well as making a lineup.

You can see the online version of the ballot to determine the starters to get a sense how players are doing in our league (My Albert Pujols will probably not start for the first time in his career. Mark Teixeira has THAT wrapped up).

The results of the balloting will be out soon. Stay tuned.

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Tags: APBA Baseball, All Star Game by The Baseball Zealot
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